Tython Siege Series
by ecleo34
Summary: The Jedi held world of Tython is sieged by the forces of the Sith empire. One Jedi Master, Gavin Tor, struggles to protect his fellow Jedi and survive.
1. Chapter 1

**Tython Siege Series Chapter 1**

**Searing Vision **

Night in Tython's Jedi Temple was quiet. Most of its residents sought meditation and sleep as the restorative path to the Force. Others were not so easily lulled.

In a darkened training hall, lit only by the blue fire of a lightsaber blade, Gavin Tor practiced the movements of Soresu. Each step was a fluid parry, every movement further opening the link between the Force and Gavin. It reached into him, granting energy, direction, and purpose. As he flowed through defense after defense, the light illuminated the path of time from the here and now to a when that hadn't happened... yet. Blurred lines of light and dark called to him, and Gavin felt the Force pour sight and hearing over his mind.

A cave closed over his vision. Its walls were jagged rock marred by fire and the smell of blood and sweat filled his nostrils. From the other side of that jagged wall the screams of the dying, the battle cries of the living, and the roar of turbolasers all fought for supremacy.

In a blink Gavin snapped back to the present.

The ghost wind of the Force's warning continued on to blow sleeping minds into unsettled alertness.

"Master?", a boy's voice asked.

Gavin turned to find a youngling, no more than seven years old, standing in the training hall. His green eyes reflected the blue light of Gavin's blade. With a flick Tor switched off his saber and a deft touch of the force activated the hall's lighting.

The boy's eyes were wide in fear as he gazed around. As he turned back to Tor he said," I had a bad dream, Master."

"Me too," Gavin replied.

"Is someone coming?", the boy asked.

Gavin looked up at the ceiling and his brow furrowed in concentration.

When he looked back at the child he replied," Many someones, but don't worry, I'll make sure you and the others stay safe."

"You promise?"

"Promise.",Tor vowed.

"So what now?"

"Now we get out of here."

"Right now, Master? Why?"

As Gavin herded the boy out of the training hall the roar of a turbolaser blast heralded its searing radiance as it's shattered the room they'd just been standing in.

"Any other questions?" , Tor dryly asked.


	2. Chapter 2

**Tython Siege Series Chapter 2**

**Dawn at Midnight**

Gavin trudged along the mountain path, a column of ragged younglings in his wake. The shattering thunder of turbolasers echoed in the distance, growing closer with every hour.

"Master Tor," a young girl, perhaps 12 years old, began,"where are we going?"

Gavin turned to face her and the rest of the younglings. He pointed towards the caves that gaped liked hungry maws in the upper reaches. "Those caverns will shelter us from the artillery fire. We just have to get there. Now keep moving up the trail."

The eyes of the children lost some of their foggy exhaustion. The gleam of minds trained in obedience and courage, trained to believe, shone from their eyes. With a little more energy the children ascended the rough trail.

Gavin's eyes fell to a half lidded gaze and his mind flowed ,through grass and soil, through wind and light, gauging their distance from danger. Some would call his connections familiar node channels in the Force. Gavin Tor felt those connections so strongly on Tython that there was no division between them and the bonds between his muscles and bones. Those natural bonds let him listen to the battle for the Jedi Temple.

The agony, the fear, and the grim faced courage of his brothers and sisters sang to him in echoes that seems to permeate the planet. Tor's eyes opened and his face set in hard, determined lines. Gavin turned and resumed his march, taking the rear guard.

The day passed in a haze of sunlight that did not warm and wind that brought chill waves through the younger initiates. Tor and the older children were better able to resist the elements but the seasoned knight knew they would face other dangers. Tor could almost hear his master's playful admonition, "Are you paying attention?"

That night Gavin sought solace in meditation he couldn't help but wonder," Is this our end?"

Sometime during the exercise he felt himself swallowed by a sense of sight that transcended place and time. In a dreamlike state he was unsurprised to find himself walking along a forest path he had not traveled in 15 years. He walked alongside a woman he had not seen since that day, for she had rejoined the force.

"But," she said as though reading his thoughts," are you ready to do the same?"

"Master?"

"You've grown Gavin. The light in your eyes is dimmed by weariness."

"I ...I had not thought to see or hear you again."

"And yet here you are.", she concluded.

" Yes."

She nodded, solemnly, and asked," What do you fear?"

"The death of the Order."

"You are afraid of being alone."

Gavin looked up at her, eyes shining bare, he looked away, and he bit off,"Yes."

"Yet if you were the last Jedi would it change who you are? What your duty is?"

He looked back at his master, eyes gleaming with new understanding, and he replied," No. No it wouldn't."

"Then do what you can and let the will of the Force be done."

"I... thank you Master."

"Now rise up Gavin Tor. The living require their shield."

With a sharp indrawn breath Gavin's eyes snapped open. Around him the children lay strewn on the ground in shivering, uneasy sleep. Slowly the Jedi rose to his feet and scanned the area, searching for threats through all his senses.

In the chiaroscuro of his force sense he saw the approach of a swath of black fire. A company of Sith troopers and at the center of the group was the heart of the flame.

They were being led by a Sith.

Gavin quietly went to each child and woke them, making sure to signal them to maintain silent alertness as he sent them up the path. Tor made sure the whole group was moving up towards the caves as he palmed his unlit saber.

The fire that was the units began to distinguish themselves into individual embers. They were far too close not to find the children.

"Beatris?", Tor whispered.

The young girl looked at him.

"Get them to the nearest stable cave, Be careful of big cats. You are in charge now understood?"

"But Master you aren't coming?", she asked in a strained whisper.

Gavin shook his head.

"Go.", he commanded.

"I...yes, Master Tor.", she started to slink off, turned and said,"May the Force be with you, Master."  
"And with you young one. Now go. They will need you."

She moved up the path, unshed tears in her eyes.

Gavin smiled and whispered," May the Force's will be done."

When he was sure the children were far enough away to escape unnoticed he rose to his full height, a brown clump of dirt that had become a Jedi Master.

The blade in his hand sang it's blue star fire song and he'd dropped all pretense of stealth. To the children it was as though his presence was the light of a dawn only they could see.

In the deep of night blue fire met swarms of blaster bolts. Further down the path a blade of snarling blood snapped to life. Beatris hurried the children away, into the gaping maw in the mountain face.


	3. Chapter 3

**Tython Siege Series Chapter 3 - ****At the Edge of the Event Horizon**

Outside the reach of his blazing, azure blade a storm of blaster fire was descending at all angles in a relentless staccato rhythm of deadly energy. Within the sphere of deflections, parries, and sporadic reflections Gavin Tor was sheltered from this storm. He leapt and spun and maneuvered to draw the Sith soldiers away from his young charges; the initiates evacuated from Tython's temple.

Within his shelter the roar of blasters was muted and the sting of glancing burns went unnoticed. Were it not for a warning whisper of Gavin's honed precognition he wouldn't have noticed the stalking approach of a Chiss clothed in black armor and armed with a red lightsaber.

'Ahhh', he thought ,'I wondered when we'd get to this part.'

The flash of a straight thrust towards Gavin's midsection silenced his ruminations. Tor instantly blocked with a sweeping parry. He let the Force reach through him to guide every movement of his blade. Across the tangle of crimson and azure energy, the Chiss struck with dexterity and precision, feinting, stabbing, and slashing to test Gavin's guard. Tor parried and retreated, drawing the Sith and the entire contingent after him in their efforts to destroy him with bolts and blades of energy.

Every minute he survived was one more minute they couldn't search for the children.

Every minute of life was a victory.

The Sith leapt in again to strike with a well time slash to scorch Tor's wrist. Again Tor deflected at the last second, and he thrust his hand forward in a telekinetic push. Against the explosive gale of energy the Chiss stood rooted, the energy flowed around him to no effect. Surprised, Tor leapt back as the smiling killer lunged in to spear through him.

A manic expression masked the Sith's face as he struck again and again in viper quick series of attacks. As he drew closer he reached to latch onto Tor's sword arm with his left hand. A quick step and clearing block ran a scorch mark along the attacker's wrist.

And on they went. The group of shooters almost forgotten as they failed to land a single decisive shot on their quarry. Tor whirled in tight circles and loops to fend off his opponent and hold the killer's attention.

Behind Tor he felt the maw of another cave, one that sang to him of awful destiny, yawn behind him. Death was before him, striking with malice made of red light, and despite his twinge of doubt he continued his fighting retreat to draw in the inexhaustible warrior.

Together they plunged into a shadowy throat bordered by stone teeth.


	4. Chapter 4

Tython Siege Series Chapter 4 - Supernova Exhumation

Into the darkness of the cave two combatants fought, piercing red flame against flowing blue. Gavin Tor moved and leapt and spun. moving step by step, deeper into the darkness. His opponent danced in and out of striking distance with flurries of stabs, feints, and quick slashes to hand, arm, or leg.

Tor parried madly, sharp sense and his precognition reaching for the slightest hint of deception in each stroke and thrust of the blade. Time slowed as he moved back and fended off another assault, more vicious than the last.

"This can't go on," he thought.

As though the Sith preyed on Gavin's thought the whirling red blade came on, viper quick, to bite into Tor's shoulder. After a howl of pain, Tor grit his teeth and pressed to clear the burning blade and lashed out with his booted foot to slam the Sith clear out of striking distance.

A ray of light passed over his shoulder, blinding the Sith long enough for Tor to look up and see a rock shelf that glittered with the light Tython's native crystals. More out of instinct than thought he leapt up to reach the glittering earthen stars.

With a snarl the Chiss leapt after him. As Gavin launched from ledge to ledge he batted aside his pursuer. The cauterized scar on his arm throbbed painfully each time he blocked. Despite his pain Tor kept ahead of his opponent by a narrow margin. In this battle, height had become everything. The Jedi felt the spark of lethal energy that reached out to lash him on the head. With a quick duck of the head he avoided the quick burst of lightning.

Even as the dark warrior lashed out with another whip of hateful electricity Gavin was launching up onto the high shelf where he saw the crystals gleam with a light of their own.

The Force whispered a warning and Gavin was rolling clear even as his enemy landed with a downward stab. On reflex Tor stepped back and snapped his hand out to channel another burst of telekinetic energy. To his surprise the armored Chiss staggered back under the Force's power. The light in each of the crystals vibrated in response to his move.

Pieces in an echo chamber for the power of the Force. With newfound determination lighting his gaze he leapt and struck, letting the energy of his assisted acrobatics discharge out into the gleaming stones of yellow, blue, and green. In response they blazed with greater life, and a torrent of power rushed through Gavin Tor.

The enemy that had moved with such quickness seemed as slow as a ticking chrono. His linear attacks and narrow slashes were no longer efficient or lethal. Now they were inadequate to keep pace with Gavin's whirling circular mix of offense and defense. With a snarl the Sith moved back to keep the Jedi in front of him, and Gavin leapt back to stand at the entryway to the cavern of light.

With a derisive snort the Chiss point his blade downward towards the ground. Almost too late Gavin saw the warrior's intent and gathered his energies to create a bubble of defensive energy.

With a manic scream he stabbed down and the dark side echoed his cry with a focused blast that rent a massive crack along the rock floor to where the glittering cavern blazed. The line of splintered stone could not pass Gavin's shield. With bullheaded rage the Chiss kept his blade pressed into the floor as he renewed his attack, blind to the spiderweb cracks that were springing up all around his position. Gavin drew on the radiant energy around him and funneled the crystals' reverberating power into his Force shield.

The Chiss breathed in as though to scream again, and the cavern floor split open beneath the Sith and he tumbled into a maw of rock teeth. His form was swallowed in dark ,stony oblivion. All around Tor the cavern shook and stalactites fell like the broken teeth of some monster out of legend and a beam of blazing sunlight blazed through a distant opening in the roof of the cavern. The Force urged Tor towards the light of another day, and as he had so many times before, he leapt to answer.

Many, many hours later an bloodied hand pushed through a mound of fallen stone. A snarl of defiant rage echoed from underneath the self made cairn.


	5. Chapter 5

Tython Siege Series: Interlude: Solar Wind to Destiny

Gavin shot through a gap in the collapsing maw of stalactites, out among the tumbling shards of mountain rock that cracked and crumbled underneath his flying form. As his flight path arced downwards he used the force to slow his rapid descent from a lethal collision with the stony ground to merely bone shattering. He didn't have the ability to cushion his own fall enough to avoid injury. As always, the Force had provided his deliverance through other instruments.

In this case, one former student with a nuanced talent for telekinesis. As though reeling synth-silk strands, Aria Mylin reach out with open hands and a clear mind to pull in Gavin's plummeting form . His fall slowed from the fall of a boulder to the floating descent of a feather in a the space of a few moments. His boots touched down softly on the exposed shelf of rock with one final pulling motion of Aria's outstretched hands.

With a rueful smile,"It's a good thing I have a standing contract with Mylin Tractor Beams."

"Only the best landings for suicidal Jedi Masters.", Aria replied cheekily.

"I take it you found the younglings. Are they alright?"

"Safe, for the moment. We set up a rear position to place evacuated initiates and treat the worst casualties from the front. I went to find you after I heard about your Sith admirers."

"Yes, well one of them took admiration too a far… deeper level. Did you receive any instructions from the Council? Or any of the Jedi commanders?"

"Just a few minutes ago. They are sending a speeder to retrieve us. I'll signal them now."

Aria pulled out a small cylindrical device and said,"Guardian Control, I found him . Home in for retrieval."

Through her device the reply came,"Confirmed Master Mylin. Tracking your location now. ETA thirty seconds."

"Roger Guardian Control. We'll be waiting."

"Thirty seconds? I thought we couldn't operate any transports?"

"We found an alternative means of rapid transit. It's a bit rough but we've made it work."

Before Gavin could ask further, a republic gunship leapt over the edge of a nearby peak and dipped down to bounce off the next surface it came close to with a burst from its repulsorlift engines.

Like a stone skipping off a pond.

With a quick turn the pilot slid to a rough stop 3 meters from the two Jedi.

With the hiss of a door seal releasing the side hatch popped open. Gavin and Aria boarded as the pilot, a white armored trooper, called out,"Anyone ask for a lift?"


End file.
